Swindon striker James Collins admits it was a surreal experience to score four goals against Portsmouth

Swindon striker James Collins admits scoring four goals from the bench against Portsmouth was a surreal experience.

James Collins: Still celebrating his four-goal haul against Portsmouth

Collins came off the bench to devastating effect in Swindon's 5-0 win over Portsmouth on New Year's Day netting a 12 minute hat-trick before adding a fourth late on.

The 22-year-old, who also scored a memorable hat-trick in the Capital One Cup win at Stoke, has now scored 12 goals this season despite not being a regular starter.

The former Aston Villa youngster admits scoring four goals in one game is a proud achievement, but he is refusing to dwell on his success as he looks to nail down a place in Paolo Di Canio's starting XI.

"It was brilliant to get on the pitch and to get a hat-trick in such a short space of time and then a fourth goal was a little surreal," Collins told skysports.com.

"The manager just told me to work hard and keep hold of the ball when I came on and luckily for me almost every chance I had I scored.

"I am confident in my ability and I know I can score goals if I get the chances.

"I am very happy with the goals, but I can't dwell on it and it is gone now as I am thinking about Saturday's game with Carlisle.

"Hopefully I have done enough to get back in the starting line-up and the gaffer will give a chance.

"Of course to score my first league hat-trick is a good achievement like my hat-trick at Stoke was.

"I now have 12 goals for the season and I had set myself a target of double figures before Christmas which I have now achieved after we had a couple of games called off over the Christmas period."